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Pokémon Go Festival of Colors 2023 Collection Challenge and field research tasks explained

The Festival of Colors event returns for 2023!

The Festival of Colors event has returned and this year it sees the release of Bruxish from Gen 7 in Pokémon Go!

This event also includes the release of Mega Medicham into Pokémon Go, so, if you want to experiment with this Mega Evolution, make sure you battle it in Mega Raids.

Along with these new Pokémon, there’s a Festival of Colors Collection Challenge for you to complete and event-exclusive field research tasks to find!

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Watch as battle Guzzlord - one of the Ultra Beasts in Pokémon GoWatch on YouTube

Festival of Colors 2023 Collection Challenge Pokémon List in Pokémon Go

The Festival of Colors Collection Challenge is available until Tuesday, 14th March at 8pm (local time). If you want to add this Collection Challenge to your Elite Collector’s medal and earn its rewards, you must do so before this date as the challenge will no longer be available afterwards.

Here are the Pokémon in the Festival of Colors Collection Collection, along with how to find them:

Shuckle.
  • Koffing - In the wild
  • Stunky - In the wild
  • Wobbuffet - In the wild
  • Natu - In the wild
  • Shuckle - In the wild
  • Paras - In the wild
  • Krabby - In the wild
  • Bruxish - In the wild and one-star raids
  • Sand Burmy - In the wild and event-exclusive field research task (Catch 8 different species of Pokémon)
  • Trash Burmy - In the wild and event-exclusive field research task (Catch 8 different species of Pokémon)
  • Plant Burmy - In the wild and event-exclusive field research task (Catch 8 different species of Pokémon)
  • Mothim - Evolve a male Burmy using 50 Burmy Candies

Completing this challenge will reward you with 20,000 XP and Lure Module.


The Season of Timeless Travels has arrived in Pokémon Go! The Along the Routes event is here, bringing Gift Exchange and the A Route to New Friendships quest with it. During it, take the time to try out Routes and Party Play while you're hunting down rare Pokémon, fighting in the Go Battle League or competing in PokéStop Showcases.


Festival of Colors field research tasks in Pokémon Go

Spinning PokéStops during the Festival of Colors event in Pokémon Go may grant you an event-exclusive field research task.

While these tasks can, as always, be saved in your field research collection and completed after this event ends, we recommend finishing them during the Festival of Colors. This is because a number of these tasks will help you complete the Festival of Colors Collection Challenge.

Here are the Festival of Colors field research tasks in Pokémon Go:

  • Catch 15 Pokémon reward - Alolan Grimer encounter
  • Catch 5 different species of Pokémon reward - Castform encounter - can be Regular, Sunny, Rainy or Snowy form
  • Catch 8 different species of Pokémon reward - Burmy encounter - can be Plant, Sand or Trash
  • Catch 10 different species of Pokémon reward - Oricorio (style depends on your region)

Thank you to SilphScience from reddit for the help with this information!

Everything else we know about the Festival of Colors in Pokémon Go

There are three bonuses running throughout the Festival of Colors in Pokémon Go until it ends on Tuesday, 14th March at 8pm (local time), with the first seeing Lure Modules lasting for three hours.

Smeargle.

Friendship levels with your Pokémon Go friends will also increase twice as last, so make sure you're opening and sending Gifts throughout the Festival of Colors!

Finally, by taking a few snapshots every day during this Pokémon Go event, you’ll earn a surprise. This surprise is, of course, an encounter with Smeargle and, best of all in my opinion, shiny Smeargle is available during the Festival of Colors.

Smeargle’s appearance in snapshots is only guaranteed for a limited number of times during the Festival of Colors and, when the event ends, shiny Smeargle will once again become unavailable until the next event it appears in. For this reason, we recommend encountering Smeargle as many times as possible to increase your chances of catching its shiny form.

Bruxish.

The Festival of Colors also sees the release of Bruxish in Pokémon Go!

This Gen 7 water and psychic-type Pokémon appears to take inspiration from the reef triggerfish, which is the state fish of Hawaii - the real world location that Alola, the region released alongside Gen 7, was itself inspired by.

Bruxish can’t evolve, so you only need to catch one to fully complete its Pokédex entry and, if you need help doing so, visit our how to get Bruxish guide.

Mega Medicham has also been released as part of the Festival of Colors event! This Mega Evolution will be appearing in Mega Raids until Tuesday, 21st March. This gives you a good amount of time to collect its Mega Energy, so you can add this new evolution to the Mega section of your Pokédex!

The following Pokémon will be appearing in raids alongside Mega Medicham:

One StarThree StarFive StarMega
EspurrExeggutorHo-OhMega Medicham
RockruffAlolan Exeggutor
MareanieCryogonal
BruxishDruddigon

Outside of raids, the following Pokémon will be appearing more frequently in the wild during the Festival of Colors:

Paras.
  • Paras
  • Krabby
  • Lickitung
  • Koffing
  • Natu
  • Wobbuffet
  • Shuckle
  • Galarian Zigzagoon
  • Wingull
  • Burmy - Plant Cloak, Sand Cloak and Trash Cloak
  • Stunky
  • Bruxish

Finally, a new selection of avatar items, including an animated pose, have been released into the in-game store for the Festival of Colors event.

Hope you enjoy this year’s Festival of Colors!

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Lottie Lynn

Guides Editor

Lottie Lynn is Eurogamer's Guides Editor. She likes exploring new games and still has nightmares about the moon from Majora's Mask.

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